The trend estimate for total dwelling units approved rose by 2.4% for July 2003, 2.5% for August 2003 and 2.3% for September 2003.

The trend estimate for private sector houses approved has risen for the last seven months. The series rose by 1.1% in September 2003 following rises of 1.3% in both July and August 2003.

SEASONALLY ADJUSTED ESTIMATES

The seasonally adjusted estimate for total dwelling units approved in September 2003 rose by 1.8% to 4,281. This estimate was 9.3% higher than the estimate for September 2002.

The seasonally adjusted estimate for private sector houses rose by 8.7% to 2,183 in September 2003. The estimate for July 2003 was 12.2% lower than for July 2002, August 2003 was 12.8% lower than August 2002, while September 2003 was 4.4% higher than September 2002.

ORIGINAL ESTIMATES

The total number of dwelling units approved in the September 2003 quarter rose by 12.9% to 12,748 from the June 2003 quarter estimate of 11,291.

The value of total building approved in the September 2003 quarter rose by $653.7 million or 18.7% from the June 2003 quarter. Residential building rose by 23.4% to $2,742.3 million and non-residential building rose by 10.3% to $1,412.6 million.

FURTHER INFORMATION

For further information about these and related statistics, contact Darryl Rowe on Adelaide 08 8237 7596, or the National Information and referral Service on 1300 135 070.

ABOUT THIS ISSUE

This September quarter 2003 issue is the final issue of this publication.

In future, all data in this publication will be available in other ABS products, viz:

From the October 2003 issue, Building Approvals Australia (cat. no. 8731.0) will be expanded to include the state and territory data series of interest to most users. A copy of the proposed publication is available on the ABS website. (see www.abs.gov.au and press the Publications icon, then go to 8731.0)

A Building Approvals data cube - contains most of the variables in this publication.

The on-line AusStats service - under Building Approvals, Australia (cat. no. 8731.0).

The ABS web site - in the Main Features for Building Approvals, Australia (cat. no. 8731.0).

Some state and territory data is also available in other ABS products. Further information on these alternative sources and how to access them is in the following document:

NOTE FOR SUBSCRIBERS

The following document details the cessation of the quarterly state and territory building approvals publications, and offers alternative sources for future data.

Quarterly chain volume data incorporate a new base year, 2001-02, which has resulted in revisions to growth rates, small in most cases, for subsequent periods. In addition, the reference year has been advanced to 2001-02, thereby preserving additivity in the quarters after the reference year. Re-referencing resulted in revisions to levels, but not growth rates, for all periods (see paragraphs 25-26 of the Explanatory Notes).

Area statistics are now classified to the Australian Standard Geographical Classification, 2003 Edition (see paragraphs 27-28 of the Explanatory Notes).

DATA NOTES

Estimates have been included in this issue for one council that was unable to report all building work approved in their municipality this month: Holroyd (New South Wales).

A special article 'Functional Classification of Buildings', containing data for 2001-02 and 2002-03 was included in the September 2003 issue of Building Approvals, Australia (cat. no. 8731.0). This and other articles are available from the ABS web site at <www.abs.gov.au.> Go to the 'Feature Articles' link on the home page, then select 'Industry/Construction'.

REVISIONS THIS QUARTER

There have been revisions made to total dwelling units since the last issue of this publication, resulting in an additional 71 dwellings in NSW in 2002-03.

SYMBOLS AND OTHER USAGES

n.a.n.y.a.

not availablenot yet available

VALUE OF BUILDING APPROVED

VALUE OF TOTAL BUILDING

The trend estimate of the value of total building approved has risen for each month of the September 2003 quarter.

VALUE OF RESIDENTIAL BUILDING

The trend estimate of the value of residential building approved has increased for the last five months, following five months of decline.

VALUE OF NON-RESIDENTIAL BUILDING

The trend estimate of the value of non-residential building approved has fallen for the past six months.

DWELLINGS APPROVED : 2002-03 - New South Wales

TYPE OF DWELLING

The number of dwelling units approved in New South Wales during 2002–03 is shown in the table below, for each type of dwelling category, together with the distribution of each dwelling category as a percentage of total dwelling units approved for 2001–02 and 2002–03.

DWELLING UNITS BY TYPE

Type of dwelling

Number
of units

2001-02
% of total
dwellings

2002-03
% of total
dwellings

New residential

Houses

24,514

54.7

50.2

Other residential building

Semi-detached, row or terrace houses, townhouses etc. of:

1 storey

2,772

5.0

5.7

2 or more storeys

5,249

8.7

10.7

Total

8,021

13.6

16.4

Flats, units, apartments in a building of:

1 or 2 storeys

1,000

2.4

2.0

3 storeys

2,360

5.0

4.8

4 or more storeys

11,613

22.1

23.8

Total

14,973

29.6

30.7

Total other residential building

22,994

43.2

47.1

Other

Alterations and additions to residential building

249

0.5

0.5

Conversions

988

1.4

2.0

Non-residential building

83

0.2

0.2

Total building

48,828

100.0

100.0

SUMMARY COMMENT

The total number of dwelling units approved in 2002-03 was 48,828, a decline of 1,503 (or 3.0%) from the previous financial year. The number of houses as a proportion of total dwelling units approved has fallen slightly from 54.7% in 2001-02 to 50.2% in 2002-03, while the number of other residential dwellings has risen from 43.2% of total dwellings in 2001-2002 to 47.1% in 2002-03.

SEPTEMBER KEY FIGURES - Australian Capital Territory

Jul 2003

Aug 2003

Sep 2003

Dwelling units approved

Original

186

126

368

Trend

169

163

158

% change

% change

% change

Jun 2003 to

Jul 2003 to

Aug 2003 to

Jul 2003

Aug 2003

Sep 2003

Dwelling units approved

Original

14.8

-32.3

192.1

Trend

-5.2

-4.0

-2.8

DWELLING UNITS APPROVED

SEPTEMBER KEY POINTS - Australian Capital Territory

TREND ESTIMATES

The trend estimate for the total number of dwelling units approved fell in each month of the September 2003 quarter. The series fell by 3.1% to 158 in September 2003 following falls of 5.6% in July 2003 and 3.6% in August 2003.

ORIGINAL ESTIMATES

There were 680 dwellings approved in the September 2003 quarter, an increase of 105 from the June 2003 quarter. Dwelling approvals for the September 2003 quarter were concentrated in Kingston (203), Balance of Gungahlin-Hall (145) and Dunlop (50).

During the September 2003 quarter the number of new houses approved fell by 16.6% to 412 compared to the June 2003 quarter and the number of new other residential dwellings rose by 187 compared with the June 2003 quarter.

The value of total building work rose by 13.9% to $213.7 million in the September 2003 quarter. Residential building rose by 44.9% to $157.0 million and non-residential building decreased 28.6% to $56.8 million.